The Purcellville Stench Gets Worse

By Loudoun Insider

This is infuriating (LTM article here, Leesburg Today article here). A so-called “accident” has resulted in the near destruction of the historic barn at the Cole Farm, which was supposed to be re-used and restored on-site as part of the new mega development in town. I can’t believe the town residents aren’t surrounding Town Hall with pitchforks. The former dairy farm setting of this latest travesty is very fitting, because this smells like complete bullshit. Purcellville needs a thorough cleaning of its political barnyard.

While I wait to get access to your blog of choice, can you answer why the Town has been in violation of the Historic Overlay District Ordinance?

How has the Town maintained these structures? While you are busy working to upload documents elsewhere, also post the inspection reports that have been done while these structures have been maintained by the Town or the developer. Do they exist?

Why are the windows of the home only boarded up NOW to avoid damage that weather will, or has caysed, due to the windows having been left open for months?

According to the Historic Overlay District Ordinance, the “purpose of this subsection is to prevent demolition by neglect through permanent damage by weather . . . of any historic structure.”

or is this just another ordinance that you knowingly violate just like your code of ethics?

AFF is spot on. This isn’t the first time that your beloved TC have allowed similar situations to occur. So, are you, the Mayor and TC just as guilty? Absolutely.

I can’t run LI. I’m not qualified.
Tommy says that I have never before participated in any historic preservation effort in town.
In 2009 I had an opinion and Blazaro said that I wasn’t living in Town long enough to have an opinion. (was in the Washington Post Loudoun section)
When I presented water and sewer rate projections other TC members quickly tried to discredit me. The only problem is that the projected rate increases really did end up occuring BECAUSE THEY WERE TAKEN FROM TOWN DOCUMENTS.

And worse of all, I am a political opportunist. Ouch, now that hurt. LOL!

Hey Tom, I prefer citizens who actually cares about the current state affairs and the effect that your current irresponsible actions will have on the future generations of the Town. If you would simply tell the citizens the whole story, or perhaps some of the truth, you could be respected. But you don’t and can’t be.

This is just sad. Tom Priscilla is reading this board and others, and responding like a petulant child over at purcellville.com:

“in a quick search of blog sites, including this one, i didn’t see the outrage from certain quarters over the demolition, by neglect and otherwise, of the farm buildings on the fields farm property by the county, nor the outrage from certain quarters over the removal of hundreds of trees (orders of magnitude higher than the cole farm property) on the fields farm property all done by the county during its recent construction effort. i guess i need to do a more in depth search.”

Expert use of sarcasm and fallacious parallels there, Mr. Councilman. Let’s see what the difference is here, shall we?

1. The Town Council approved the special exception for the Cole Farm project ostensibly based on what the community wanted to see at the sight. You all dropped the ball by not requiring a restoration plan or consultation with an HPO before work started. You all failed at enforcing your own HP Overlay. It is within the town’s control to solicit proffers that will make conditional uses more appropriate to the town context. The TC tried and failed.

2. The only people that see Fields Farm everyday are those who work and go to school there. I saw the Fields Farm property maybe two dozen times in the 24 years I lived in Loudoun before that. The Cole Farm, which actually exists at one of 2 major entrances to Purcellville, is a property that myself and many others admired on a daily basis as a unique feature of the town.

3. Unfortunately, the county has the ultimate say over what they do with county-owned property. If you want to play SimCity, maybe you should run for BOS. You and Mayor Bob could be co-supervisors!

You are a town councilman. Behave like it. Blubbering, “B-b-but the county did it first!” literally makes you sound like my eight year old nephew (who incidentally, would probably make a better councilman than you and 4 or 5 of your closest friends).

Like the responsibility Lazaro and his minions on the Town Council showed with monitoring the one big project going on in town at the high profile intersection? This was a pathetic show of municipal management.

It’s as high profile as it gets in Purcellville – the eastern entrance into town at 287 and 7. You know, in a place where lots of people can see what’s going on. Which makes their bogus story about what happened look even more ridiculous.

“in a quick search of blog sites, including this one, i didn’t see the outrage from certain quarters over the demolition, by neglect and otherwise, of the farm buildings on the fields farm property by the county, nor the outrage from certain quarters over the removal of hundreds of trees (orders of magnitude higher than the cole farm property) on the fields farm property all done by the county during its recent construction effort. i guess i need to do a more in depth search.”

Really? This is the town council’s response? Why are you all complaining? The COUNTY did this, too. You know I actually had to give my son (who is a new driver) DIRECTIONS to Woodgrove and he has lived here his whole life. I’ll tell you this, he knows where the Cole Farm is without being told. Who can miss it?

Bob Lazaro and his little minions like the thought of having “power” over others. Maybe that’s why he walks around wearing business suits to flea markets so that everyone can see who holds the “power”! LOL!!! Note, this isn’t Long Island Bob.

In reality they merely hold a position that does come with a certain level of authority and responsibility.

While I agree, Ryan should run the next time around, that is several years off. We have a current town council member CURRENTLY running for BOS who is getting a pass on her part in this project. She is going to (apparently) be the R candidate for Blue Ridge. Is THIS what she envisions for the County?

This is one (of three) points of her platform from her website:

Economic Development
By increasing the business tax base to help lower citizen taxes and programs for bringing in and helping to sustain business’s presence in Loudoun.

I guess the Cole Farm project IS what she envisions for Loudoun County.

Great Job, thanks for keeping the heat on and actually seeing thru the “Ertle the Turtle” King Lazaro spin-fest and his minions.

For those of us who live here, and are trying to ring the alarm, it is great when the wagons circle and no amount of spin can dig Lazaro and his lap dogs out of this mess.

Here’s hoping that it is not too little too late.

Below is the letter I sent to Planning Dept. in January. Of course, I am regularly ignored and criticized for speaking out. “But I sleep at night, and can look at myself in the mirror”.

I would love to meet up with all these jokers at Church on Sunday, and simply ask…when is it ok to lie? I am so sure that there is a commandment in the Bible that says something about telling the truth, and then Jesus talked about when you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me. I am sure they know all these scriptures and happily quote them, as they are stomping on the Brown’s and their farm.

January 26, 2011

Town of Purcellville
130 East Main Street
Purcellville, VA 20132

To the Town of Purcellville:

This is to inform you that you are allowing the Developer to violate the Town of Purcellville’s Historic Overlay District Ordinance with regards to the farm house, and possibly the barn and silo as well that are located on the Cole Property, which you call and refer to as the Gateway Project.

According to the Historic Overlay District Ordinance in Article 2.8 it addresses the specific subject of Demolition by Neglect. It states in part A that the “purpose of this subsection is to prevent demolition by neglect through permanent damage by weather . . . of any historic structure.” It also states in subsection B that “The owner of any historic structure …shall maintain the building . . . in good repair.” Under that same subsection number “ 5) the ineffective waterproofing of exterior walls . . . including broken windows and doors; and c) the zoning administrator shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the County Building Official to enforce the requirements of this section.”

The upstairs or attic windows of the house have been without panes and/or windows open for who knows how long and this is allowing rain and snow to enter the building, possibly damaging the wood. Why haven’t the barn and house been covered and/or protected in some manner? It is not remotely possible that no one saw these conditions when on the property or driving past it. And if they did not, it is your duty to have been mindful, and made certain it was addressed according to our Town ordinance.

Surely during the fancy ribbon cutting someone from the Town was close enough to have seen the condition of the structures, their exposure; which would have been well before the weather moved into rain and snow conditions. (This year, and last year)

You are required to protect and preserve these buildings/structures according to the written proffers between the Town and the Developer that states it will be moved and restored. The developer’s depiction of the finished project clearly shows all these buildings in the final site plan.

One would think that the “now lost and destroyed” barn that was to remain in the Giant Shopping Center would be a recent enough experience to stay abreast of this much larger group of historic structures located in such a prime location of the entrance to the Town.

I would like to know what the Town has done and communicated in all manners to the Developer regarding this matter over the past 6-12 months, or any detailed list of requirements and any enforcement by the Town if not done. Please provide documents electronically.

Kelli, that is worth a new blog post – thanks for posting it. I have had it with these clowns. I’ll write something up later tonight of tommorrow. Of course the local press won’t do a thing about looking into the fact that they were notified months ago about the lack of real preservation going on.

I drove by the Cole farm today and was nauseated by what I saw. This is the end for Lazaro and his henchmen.

Kelli, thank you so much for keeping the pressure on these clowns. After I wrap my masters degree up in May (in town planning, no less), I’m going to try my best to secure employment in the area, return home, and help hold their feet to the fire. It’s easy to think that the damage is done and become demoralized, but there’s still a lot in Purcellville and western Loudoun worth saving.

The fact that Tom Priscilla is still spinning his story over at Purcellville.com and has yet to give up the “the County did it first!” bullshit is a testament to just how out of touch and pathetic these people are. As more of this story comes to light, hopefully the residents of Purcellville will open their eyes to what friendly Mayor Bob and crew has been doing under all of our noses.

[...] Grim should all get public service awards from Loudoun County. Kelli Grim made a great comment in my post below about the current Pville Mafia disaster, including a letter she sent to the town notifying them of violations of the towns historical [...]

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